How Food Brought Ree Drummond And Her Foster Son Together

Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman, may be busy with her hit Food Network show, popular blog, and line of goods sold at Walmart, but she's also just a regular mom. Drummond has five kids: four biological children — Alex, Paige, Bryce, and Todd — and a foster son whom Drummond and cowboy husband Ladd welcomed into their home in 2018 (via People). 

The Drummonds took in Jamar Goff after Bryce and Todd met him through football, and once he turned 18 years old — he's now 20 — Drummond was able to share more details about her fifth child. In an excerpt from her book, "Frontier Follies," The Pioneer Woman wrote about Jamar, "he is an inextricable part of our wacky family."

Today, Jamar attends the University of Central Oklahoma, where he plays football, but he still sees plenty of the Drummonds. "I'm grateful for Jamar himself — his hard work, his commitment, and his presence in our family," Drummond wrote on Instagram when Jamar signed with UCO last year. Though Drummond is enthusiastically involved in Jamar's football career, another thing they share is food.

Acclimating to a new family doesn't happen overnight. However, when Jamar suffered an ATV injury to his foot just after joining the Drummond gang on the ranch, they all had to get close quickly. Jamar needed surgery and was bedridden for six weeks, a time when he was worried his football career was over. During this challenging period, Drummond tried to console Jamar, oftentimes with food.

"I felt bad for Jamar...so I overcompensated by serving him 'generous' (oversize) portions of home-cooked food every morning, noon, and night," Drummond wrote. Add together the young football player's appetite and the fact that he couldn't move, and Jamar ended up gaining about 30 pounds. "Sorry, Jamar — my heart was in the right place!" she said, adding that her new son's need for round-the-clock care from the family did have a benefit: "It forced all of us to get pretty darn close, and fast."

And close they have remained, a fact that Drummond can definitely attest to after Jamar brought home all his laundry over school break. "It's a good thing he's so cute," she captioned a photo of her son with his laundry baskets. One commenter chimed in, "He better be glad you love him." And love him indeed she does.